PMcrunch

Project and program management are all about change; so how can we leverage the vast amount of knowledge out there about change? One way to do this is to begin to think about change as a process and then seek to learn from there. It is our job as change agents to help people through the process of change. One way to do this is to understand the Virginia Satir Change Model (VSCM).

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It has been said many times by many people that the only constant in life is change. As project and program managers, we know that we must accept and recognize this fact in our day to day activities. Much has also been written about resistance to change. As we start this new year, it is a good idea to think for a bit about change and our approach to it.

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Whatever kind of project we are working on, there is a good chance that there is a “thought-leader” somewhere. There could be a thought-leader related to design, related to problem set, or related in some way to the opportunity that the project represents.

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As project managers, we often are handed projects once they are sold. For example, in a consulting organization, a sales force will often sell a project which then is assigned to a project manager. Similarly, within organizations, someone has “sold” a project to upper management and to stakeholders and then the project is assigned to a project manager for implementation.

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The Project Management Institute, Prince II, and numerous other project management centric organizations have, for some time, had at their core that there is great an broad value to the application of structured and formal project management. At the same time, people have been managing projects really for about as long as humans have existed, albeit with varying levels of complexity. The question is, what is the value of formal project management?

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While many project and program managers work on large multi-year projects, many of us also work on small to medium sized projects. In fact, while many of these small to medium sized projects last anywhere from weeks to months, larger projects and programs consist of a series of these small to medium sized projects. Let’s take a look at one of the most common problem solving techniques available for getting into rapid-action mode on these fast-moving projects.

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On your project teams over time, there surely have been “pivotal performances”. Just like in a basketball game there was something that the winning team did throughout the game, that proved to be pivotal to the outcome of that game. There are things that each team member, and the team as a whole does throughout a project, that are pivotal to the projects success. The question is, how do you find those things, and how do you get your project team to turn in pivotal performances, routinely.

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Many people who consider getting into the project management profession are also considering other options, such as earning a degree perhaps in project management. There are also certificate programs where students earn a certificate in project management. The options for programs like this are many. Earning a certificate could include going to school full time, night school, or various online courses. Another option is simply to take some kind of training in the classroom, or online, or maybe in independent study groups, or some combination of those, and simply earn a certification like the PMP Certification.

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One of the challenges that many managers have is organizing the plethora of projects AND processes that are part of their organizational realm. The first step to dealing with this is to clearly distinguish what is a project and what is a process. Getting clear on gray areas can pave the way for a forceful visions and way ahead on any program.

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When faced with a tough challenge, many of us find ourselves trying to "think our way through it".  While thinking generally is a good thing, strangely enough, this approach often results in repetitive thoughts and mental dead ends.  What is often missing is action and results, but we may not realize it.

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